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The TabletThe TabletThe TabletThe Tablet

The newsletter of the Waitara Railway Preservation Society Inc.

No.16 April 2013

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Dear members and friends, As usual, I’ll begin with an apology! Due to technical difficulties, Denyse’s report in this newsletter has been included as a scan and not the usual format; it’s still legible, just slightly askew. I trust you have all been well and enjoying the good weather, unless of course you are connected with farming, in which case you will no doubt be glad to see some rain (remember rain?) We recently travelled to Gisborne, and although it’s no consolation, it looked just as dry over there. On the way back home, travelling down the coast road towards Napier, we were stuck behind logging trucks amongst others, struggling to negotiate the steep hills, while often we could see the relatively level (but closed !) railway line. You have to wonder at the “short sightedness” of our leaders not to spend the money on repairing the rail link between those two centres. Unless you are in the heavy road haulage industry, surely we’d all like to see more freight going by rail, not less! But what do we know? Anyway, rant over, take care, and I hope you enjoy the newsletter.

Adam

Contact Details

Waitara Railway Preservation Society Inc.

PO Box 104 WAITARA 4346

Email: wrps.charters@yahoo.co.nz

Newsletter items / comments only to:

Jenkins5279@googlemail.com

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The "Top end" of the Riverside 2'-00" gauge Railway in Blenheim.

Photo- D.Bettridge

Kb at Mainline Steam in Christchurch took me back 50 years ago working on K class locomotives in the Wanganui depot

& at New Plymouth. Photo--D.Bettridge.

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A real track saver, one set of points fits all!

Do not call these stub points for no reason. Photo at McCleans Island Railway, Christchurch. Photo--D

Bettridge.

Inside the workshop of the Silverstream Railway.

Photo D.Bettridge.

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Hi folks,

Summer has been a productive time on

the Waitara railway, even though it's been

dry the weeds just keep on growing, so it's

getting time for another spray along the

line. The new track tools are proving their

worth, around 25 rotting sleepers have

been changed out around the 5km peg,

along with a few in the Waitara yard.

These are all being put to good use with

the ongoing retaining wall along the

Strange St. embankment.

A retaining wall made up of old parks and

reserve signs on the incline has been

attracting plenty of interest, including a

suggestion from Denyse it could be sold to

the Govett-Brewster art gallery for

thousands!..we are working on that one!

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The PD boys have been making steady

progress in Waitara, excavating the

sleepers, a lot of which require changing

due to their declining condition. So there's

plenty on the cards for our "willing"

volunteers.

The butterfly garden at Waitara is really

coming into its own now..what a

difference from the weed infested eyesore

it once was, thanks again to Heather

Crofskey for her great input here.

Denyse and I have measured up the site

for the new sidings at Brixton and

Waitara, we have also had a stock take of

fishplates, it looks like we will have just

enough to complete these projects. A lot

of bolts will need to be purchased.

One of my workmates, Gary Loveridge has

his own digger and he is kindly going to

use this to construct the sidings using

mainly the tracks stacked on the lawn at

Brixton. Eileen has plans for this site which

is looking at becoming a small

orchard..another sideline to our

operations! Once we have finished

building the points we are ready to go, so

hopefully this will be happening sometime

in May. Then the stage will be set for Dave

Oxley's shed which will become our new

covered workshop. The society will really

be heading in a good direction, being

finally able to work on rail vehicles under

cover, especially with winter approaching.

Paul Heighton, the track inspector from

Auckland visited back in February, and has

been very impressed with the progress

since his last visit a year ago. Great to get

feedback like this, he gave us plenty of

advice which has been very helpful.

On April 6th we held the official opening

of the Magnolia Glade station. This was

opened by Vance Hooper from Magnolia

Grove Nursery and John Michielsen from

Michielsen's Tree Nursery. These guys

have donated well over 200 trees which

have been planted along the rail corridor,

many of which are flowering magnolias.

It's going to a beautiful site in years to

come from what was once a weed infested

area, and by doing so our way has been

paved for the society to become a part of

the fringe garden festival which will be

wonderful for all parties concerned.

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The day of the opening was a lovely day

spent with our guests which included a

train ride to view the plantings, along with

liquid refreshments of the amber nectar

variety, and an afternoon tea back at the

station, after the speeches down at

Magnolia glade station. Thanks again for

all those involved with putting on this day

and making our guests very welcome.

It's great to see how the community gets

behind the society. A great example was

how a member of the public has been

lending his ride-on mower since our one

was stolen just before Christmas. The TET

is coming to the rescue and is funding a

replacement mower for the society, they

have been fantastic to the society with all

their funding getting us into a very good

place.

The new mower shed has been

constructed next to the station with it's

temporary paint job, and Noel and Jim

have done a great job making it a very

secure shed, hopefully this foils any

potential thief, well it will be no easy job

getting in now.

Denyse and Mike Lehrke have been busy

with contractors who are replacing the

surface of the Browne and Cracroft St.

crossings. At the time of writing, the

Browne St. crossing's sleepers are in

excellent order and do not require

replacing which is great. Fingers crossed

for Cracroft St.

Hopefully by the time of my next report

we will have the sidings in place and the

workshop well on its way, slowly but

surely we are heading in the right direction

with improvements happening on all

fronts.

Till next time,

Cheers, Mike Zeier

Report from Jim Blyde on various happenings

at the yard.

• January 19th Jim made repairs to MT01, one of the wheels started to rust out which required cleaning and welding. This operation did not take too long and was completed. When the unit was turned over we found that the flange of the wheels were rubbing against the chassis. Keith worked on this with his hammer and chisel after removing the sets.

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• February 16th Both Adam and Dave worked on the northern points at the Waitara Road yard, as these were very hard to operate. As it transpired one of the linkage post was slightly out of whack, which made the linkage unable to work. While working to remedy the problem they managed to break one of the pivot posts. (sorry Jim….Adam) This was duly replaced and the lads got the lever to work again. Well done lads.

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• February 02nd onwards. Noel, Jim Mike and Neville worked on the new mower shed, after Mike and Michael had built it. Noel and Mike worked on the doors. Neville started to paint. Jim worked on securing the shed. He did what he had done on the trolley sheds, shortly after their arrival at the beginning of our operating. A single bar across the front, so that the doors (hopefully) would be secured. The tin shed next door was also made secure with the same method, but with two bars across. We as a team would like to think that these two sheds will be more secure for the future.

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Of course, Carl just had to try it, didn’t he?

• March 02nd Was a good day with a

good number of members on site. Neville had Zoë? (spelling) with him, as she had heard so much about our Society from another Asian lass, who had spent some time with the members on site in the past. Nancy was a very helpful lass when she was on site. Not afraid to give a hand where she could. With a paint brush, or a jig saw, under supervision. The camaraderie within the membership is terrific, with different members trying to ‘upset’ some in the tea room.

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• March 09th Denyse playing on the platform, trying to build a trolley for a static display at the Magnolia Glade. Denyse had already built one which is now on display

• January 24th. The Society had Chris Beath with his rail bicycle, which was to be filmed for TV. We were allowed to take some photos but not for display. But the following were when we went to the site and assisted where possible to the crew.

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East Coast Museum of Technology

www.ECMOT.org.nz

On our recent trip to Gisborne, Becky and I called in at the East Coast Museum of Technology (ECMOT). This is located in Makaraka, on the outskirts of Gisborne. For an entry fee of only $5, you can spend an eternity looking round dozens of buildings crammed with everything under the sun!

An Aladdin’s cave…

There are fire engines, military vehicles, a whole display on domestic utensils (cooker, fridges etc), lawnmowers, agricultural machinery, the list is endless. There’s also the buildings themselves, the site being a former Dairy Factory.

The former Matawhero Railway station

? Have you always read this newsletter and thought you’d like to have a go at producing it yourself? Well, now’s your chance. After editing the WRPS newsletter for over 5 years, I wonder if anyone else would like to have a go. You would need to be a member of the society and obtain the approval of the leadership team (a frightening ordeal….only joking Denyse) I would of course be on hand to offer any help if you needed it. If you’re keen, contact me. My email address is at the front

Adam

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Any ideas?

What’s more, it’s on what remains of the old Gisborne – Motuhora railway line (1900 – 1959), so they also have a large collection of railway items and rolling stock. One of their members was telling me that they are applying to restore what is left of the line, and run some of their stock on it.

Rail tractor that used to run on Tolaga Bay

wharf If you find yourself in the area, I can highly recommend a visit, but be prepared to take longer than you’d planned!

Adam

Subscriptions

I apologise for sending out the sub invoices

so late. This is entirely my fault. Thank you

to those who paid prior to receiving the

account.

Accounts have not been sent out over the

years and a large number of members

have not paid, therefore have not been

entitled to vote at the AGM. Subscriptions

help towards the costs of this newsletter

and postage. This is a good way for you to

know all the happenings, and these have

been many and exciting for our future.

The team sure does some great work and

would be pleased to see you at our AGM.

Please remember that you need to pay

subs before you can vote.

Cheers,

Helen Johnson

Treasurer

The opening of the line